Balcones 5th Anniversary Dinner – April 6 in NYC

UPDATE: Since publishing this post, this particular event has been cancelled. There are definitely other Balcones events going on while Chip’s here so if you’re interested, please check out NYCwhisky.com for the most current list of whisky happenings in NYC! 🙂

I didn’t mean to do 2 event announcement posts back-to-back BUT next week the whisky circus rolls into NYC with the NY WhiskyLive event, the World Whisky Conference and whatever other events everyone is doing while they’re here and I thought this other one ought to be shared!

My good friend (& extremely talented distiller) Chip Tate of Balcones will be one of the many distillers in NYC next week.  And in addition to WhiskyLive, he is also celebrating the 5th Anniversary of Balcones!!!

To celebrate, he’s doing a dinner at Harlow Restaurant in NYC that is open to the public (limited tickets available).  Here a copy of the press release I received – I’ll definitely be there and can’t wait!  Dying to try Chip’s NEWEST RELEASE, his Fifth Anniversary Straight Bourbon [64.2%] that just took Double Gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition!

Hope to see you there! Please share below if you’re going, have experienced the Balcones line before or perhaps if you’ve met Chip! (or anything else you’d like to share, open forum here, folks) 🙂

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WhiskyLive Coupon Code & WWC

Look out New York, here comes the Whisky Circus!

Every year during the first week in April, it feels like most of the flights that land at JFK are filled with distillers, ambassadors and adoring whisky fans (ok, geeks ;)) who all clamor into town with one main agenda: WhiskyLive NY (WLNY).  It’s one of my favorite whisky events of the year, big enough that you can easily fill every second of your time tasting and chatting up the producers of different brands, but small enough where you’re not run down by a pack of over-inebriated, 18yr old + up “only” Scotch demanding drinkers.  Nope, not here.  Not that I’ve experienced, at least.

I’ve attended the last 3 NY WhiskyLive shows as a spectator (though last year, I presented Balcones at WhiskyLive London with Chip Tate… which was awesome).  But this year will be an entirely different experience for me because for the first time at any large tasting event, I’ll be presenting Brenne! I’m so excited and it’ll be such a thrill to share my whisky with such a great group of whisky fans.

And as the kind folks at WhiskyLiveUSA often give me a coupon code for my readers, this year they really upped the ante and are offering you a 20% OFF COUPON! At check out, type in “brenne” <- it’s case sensitive!  Hopefully this helps a lot of you who may be on the fence.

Now this year, for something extra special, the day following Whisky Live (April 4th) is the trade-only event: World Whiskies Conference (WCC).  I had the absolute pleasure of attending this last year in London (as you might have noticed … my mug was all over their marketing material this year as many people pointed out, lol). But this event travels around the world, happening each year in a different city and this year, it’s on American soil!

Just check out the list of speakers & guests: WCC PROGRAM

I look forward to hearing all of the presentations, participating in the discussions and seeing lots of my old friends!  I really can’t wait.

Any plans to attend either event? Have you been in the past? Share your experiences & thoughts below! 😀

Symphony of A Well Curated Tasting Event

Pour yourself a dram and enjoy the following review, I have a LOT to say about this remarkable event by fellow whisky enthusiast, Joshua Feldman.

To set the mood (and you’ll understand why later), I invite you to play Brahms Sextet in G-major as you read along.

Let’s begin!

As I enter the 6th month on the market with my whisky, Brenne (can’t believe my baby is 6 months old!), it’s extremely rare right now for me to be able to quite my Brenne-centric brain long enough to attend (vs conduct) a tasting event.  However, when one of my favorite bloggers & whisky enthusiasts, Josh Feldman (of the Coopered Tot blog) announced that he would be presenting his first solo whisky tasting event where he’d be taking an audience through a carefully selected grouping of high-end chocolates + whiskies at the beautiful Morgan Library in the heart of Manhattan, and then graciously invite me to be his guest(!!!!) well, I just HAD to be there.

And was I ever thankful to do so.  That night will stick with me forever.

FIRST, my company.  (SIDE NOTE: One of whom is a fellow blogger -Susannah Skiver -and we thought it would be fun to post our reviews on the same day. Click to read her take!)

I went by myself which I really enjoy doing on occasion because I find that the world opens up around you in ways you might not have ever experienced otherwise.  Everyone was assigned to a different table and was I ever blessed by the Whisky Angles.  To my right was the enjoyable intellect, Clay Gordon (The Chocolate Life, @DiscoverChoc, chocolate expert, author, entrepreneur, etc), and to my left was the fantastic blogger and insightful taster, Susannah Skiver Barton (What Tastes Good blog, @whattastesgood).  Next to Susannah was Rebekah Pizana who came up from Washington DC where she is a Gourmet Food/Drinks writer (I Write Gourmet blog, @IWriteGourmet) and across the table from us were a wonderful couple, Julie and her husband Derek, who is a professional classical musician.  Our conversations ranged from food & whisky chemistry to music composition to changes in culture with a dash of psychology  – and all under the umbrella of the fantastically curated pairing of chocolates by Pacari and a wide range of whiskies selected by Josh.

Clay Gordon, Allison Patel, Susannah Skiver Barton

At this point, it would be extremely unfair of me to list my tasting notes as A) I’m afraid I might start drooling at the memory going back through all of the different combinations and B) I’ve been wanting to share my whisky-piphanies of the night with you and get your reactions to the fun!  Do you still have the classical music playing? Good!

Here’s what went down:

• Glenmorangie Nectar D’Or – paired with Pacari Piura 70% regional varietal
• Compass Box Hedonism – paired with Pacari Lemongrass
• Glendronach 15 “The Revival” – paired with Pacari 65% Manabi regional varietal
• Aberlouer A’Bunadh – paired with Pacari 65% Manabi regional varietal
• Ardbeg Uigeadail – paired with Pacari Salt & Nibs
• Balcones Brimstone – paired with Pacari Fig

There is a debate about which comes first (no, not that age-old chicken/egg one), the chocolate vs whisky one!  And it was great how instead of choosing one way, they switched it up depending on which set we were on and how they thought the two would be be experienced.  Sometimes we were instructed to try the whisky first, other times we started with the chocolate.  I found that I preferred to start with the whisky because I really enjoyed how the fats in the chocolate changed the whisky when I went back for a post-chocolate sip. (This was my whisky-piphany #1).

The Pacari ambassador explained that when eating a fine chocolate, to rub a piece in between your fingers first.  This warms the chocolate and starts releasing some of the oils and fragrances.  Second, smell the chocolate.  Next, place it on your tongue and let it continue melting.  Don’t chew and swallow quickly – let the chocolate roll around in your mouth just the way you do with whisky.  Experience the velvety bite in all sections of your palate and then when you have a nice thin layer covering your tongue, go ahead a re-visit your whisky.

WHISKY-PIPHANY(#1)

The introduction of the alcohol to the fat molecules in the chocolates release new compounds that you wouldn’t have experienced without the other.  THIS was the most exciting discovery to me.  After going through these steps for the second pairing, in the midst of the 3rd Clay suggested I go back and try the Compass Box Hedonism.  There was an explosion of jasmine present in the whisky that was not there previously.  And since our table was often jumping in to the larger conversation, Clay opened this idea up to the room and it was so cool to watch most people go back to their Hedonism and get giddy with the same discovery.

This happened in reverse on the first tasting as well, when starting with the chocolate then whisky, when most went back to the chocolate – there was a distinct rich apricot/tart berry flavor that was coming out which was not there when either the chocolate or whisky was consumed on their own.  AWESOME.

WHISKY-PIPHANY (#2)

My second whisky-piphany was when Derek (the classical musician) suggested that Brahm’s Sextex in G-major would be the perfect audio pairing for the Aberlouer A’Bunadh & Pacari 65% Manabi regional varietal combination.  What?!  Why have I not explored this notion deeper in the past?  (By the way, the song at the top of this post is just that, Brahm’s Sextex in G-major Movement I).

As whisky analyzers, we pay attention (& often record) all of our other senses, sight, smell, taste & mouth feel, but what about sound? In the past, I always preferred to analyze my tastings in silence (though when I’m just sitting around enjoying whisky, I do enjoy a good flow of music and/or conversation!)  But I’m curious to know, are there any specific artists, songs or genres of music that you enjoy listening to while drinking whisky, either generally, by style or by specific dram?

Sound is a vibration, a pulse, movement.  As a former classical ballerina, I remember going (or often dragging) myself to class, emotionally drained from whatever else had gone on that day or night before.  But the moment the pianist would play a chord on the piano, I would be transported to the present.  To my time in space.  I would feel the wood of the ballet barre under my hand and wake-up to where I was and what I was about to do.  I love that Derek took one sip of a whisky and knew exactly which piece of music he wanted to be listening to at that moment.  Is anyone out there exploring specific drams + songs?

WHISKY-PIPHANY (#3)

At one point during the ongoing conversation at our little table, Clay Gordon noted an interesting difference in how we experience chocolate verses whisky.  He said that whisky is often a very analytical experience, whereas when adults taste chocolate, our personal experiences with chocolate are rooted to emotional connections that we have had since childhood.

I never thought about my chocolate this way – and while I see his point (we all probably can’t remember our first bite of chocolate but can remember our first sip of whisky!) I will say that I think whisk(e)y is probably the spirit that most people have the strongest connection with emotionally.  I think many people, positively or negatively, consciously or unconsciously, have a historical association to whisky.  I’ve heard lots of people at my tastings say a variation of: “Oh I like/don’t like <fill in the blank> style of whisky because that’s what <fill in family member> use to drink and <fill in anecdotal story of smelling or tasting it as a child> which is why I think I like/don’t like whisky today.”

If you’d like to share your thoughts below, I’d be curious to hear from you on this point too.  Do you have a past memory or nostalgic feeling to whisky or any other spirit?  Do you think that influences your preferences now?

IN CONCLUSION…

Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this post!  I’m so proud of Josh – it was a remarkable evening.  I learned so much about chocolate (for another day!) and truly loved the pairings listed above.  I hope Josh continues with these events and that I’m able to attend many, many more!  THANK YOU, JOSH!

And now, for a little showing of just how fun of a night it truly was!

Clay had some dehydrated cacao fruit in his bag – which Susannah and I went crazy for!